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plays a key role throughout our lives. one a day men's 50+ is a complete multivitamin designed for men's health concerns as we age. it has 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day men's 50+. good morning. i'm alex witt. we have big stories at this hour. surprise stop. john kerry visits iraq. the president is back at the white house and the sunday reviews are in. is there success in the middle

east? schools are facing a financial meltdown. what could be next? >> decision imminent. could there be a whole new trial for amanda knox in italy? plus, 14 people spanning four states, could it be you? good morning. i'm alex witt. thank you for joining us on this sunday. michael bloomberg squaring off with wayne lapierre on "meet the press". >> i think when you have members that say they think we should have reasonable checks before people are allowed to buy guns, they all support the second amendment as though i do, but there are an awful lot of people that think this is one of the great issues of our times.

we have to stop -- >> you just heard mayor bloomberg but he's going to find out this is a country of the people, by the people, and for the people and he can't spend enough of his $27 billion to try to impose his will on the american public. they don't want him in their restaurants, at their home, telling them what food to eat, sure don't want to tell them what self-defense firearms to own. >> mayor bloomberg promotes gun control that include as $12 million tv ad campaigning the mayors against illegal guns. here's part of their new ad. >> i've owned a gun all my life and i'll fight for my right to keep it. background checks have nothing to do with taking guns away from anyone. >> meanwhile, crowds are already lining up outside the supreme court ahead of two landmark cases involving same-sex marriage. on tuesday, the high court will begin to hear challenges against proposition 8 and the defense of

marriage act. president obama is back home in the u.s. he was in israel, the west bank, and jordan. secretary of state john kerry remains in the middle east including meeting with benjamin netanyahu. he urged iraqi leaders to overcome sectarian that threatens the stability. let's go to kristen welker. what is the president saying about the trip to the middle east? how are they characterizing this trip? >> reporter: hi, alex. officials believe he set out to do. he also reaffirmed the united states' commitment to the israeli people. the israeli people were skeptical about that prior to the trip. and then there was an unexpected diplomatic victory where

president obama, through arm twisting, convinced netanyahu to call turkey and apologize for a deadly raid against a turkish ship. that will be key in moving forward with issues like syria and tries to reopen the peace process in the middle east. so i think white house officials are feeling good about the trip. the big question, if you talk to experts in the region, is what is president obama going to do now to try to restart peace talks? of course, secretary of state kerry is really taking the lead on that. to what extent will president obama engage in that and get involved? that's what experts around the region will be watching. overall, they believe it's a success. alex? >> something else that could be deemed successful, the first budget in four years after the all nighter friday into saturday, what's the reaction there at the white house? >> final votes came in at 5:00 a.m. the white house thinks it's a good thing, that bill that

passed through the senate really echos what president obama would like to see in terms of deficit reduction but the problem, of course, is when you match up is the senate bill with the house bill. the senate bill calls for deficit reduction through increasing taxes and spending cuts and, of course, the house bill calls for steep cuts in balancing the budget within ten years. of course, some revisions to medicare as well. a lot of differences and we have another deadline coming up. the debt ceiling will have to be revisited this summer, alex. >> looking forward to that. >> reporter: yeah, we all are. >> thank you very much, kristen welker. joining me right now, andy sullivan and ann palmer. ann, i'll begin with you. the president is back from the middle east. the reviews are out there. how are you getting the word in terms of how he was perceived? >> i think one of the key things you can look at is what the

israeli press put out in the days following his first steps and throughout the entire visit and it was a resounding applause. he got very good praise from them. obviously from what he was trying to do was take that frosty relationship with benjamin netanyahu and try to piece it back together. he did that. it was exactly what he needed to do. there wasn't a lot of meat on the bones in terms of policy but from what he set out to do, that was kind of a mission accomplished. >> i have to say i get a chuckle. he said shalom. andy, the big picture there. what did the president accomplish? does his visit at all push the needle forward in terms of peace? >> i don't think he accomplished much in terms of symbolic measures when it comes to the israeli palestinian peace process. he improved his relationship with netanyahu and i think we also can't overlook the new

agreement between israel and turkey. these were and are now again important regional allies. they share intelligence, do joint military exercises together. and that's really important for regional security. >> yeah. another headline from "the new york times," raising efforts on peace. supreme court, anna, is going to hear issues on same-sex marriage and every time the fundamental rights are too important for the battles and we've done that with women and discriminating class. remember, when the united states supreme court outlawed the bans on racial marriage in 1967, 64%

of the american people proposed that. >> anna, what will the court decide? >> definitely it's going to be months of advocates on both sid sides or it could be a shifting back to the states and continue to be aware that this fight is going to be fought instead of at the supreme court at this point. >> okay. andy, with he know that hillary clinton is publicly supporting same-sex marriage. of course, her husband, former president bill clinton, who signed that into law say that d.o.m.a. should be overturned and senator rob portman is

citing his familiarity with this issue, his son is gay. how do you think this is going to play out in the 2014 midterms and then subsequently 2016 general election? >> well, alex, we've seen a clear shift in public opinion on this issue over the last ten years. it's been quite dramatic. all sorts of polls now, including the reuter's poll last week shows that the public supports gay marriage even civil unions. even in the south, the majority supports gay marriage or civil unions together. democrats are united on this issue. they say it's a big winner, especially among younger voters, and there's a real sort of active debate within the republican party about how to play this. there's a lot of people saying we've got to stop emphasizing these social issues because they are not working in our favor. however, if you're going to have a divisive 2016 primary, rick santorum is going to want to talk about that and that could really hurt them. >> do you think that will be the

case in 2016? if you look at what has happened since gavin newson signed gay marriage in law, he performed the ceremonies himself there and made it legal, look how much things have ink changed in one decade. do you think it's going to be a hot burner issue? >> i think the majority will support it but there will be a pretty significant slice of the public and especially within the republican party that really thinks that gay marriage is a bad idea and they are not going to be shy about expressing this. and they are going to certainly put forward a candidate, whether santorum or another candidate, who is going to bring up the debates. >> andy palmer and anna, thank you. pope francis holds palm sunday mass. it's a vital date on the roman

catholic calendar and a run up to easter weekend. back here in the u.s., if you're not dancing for joy, the powerball in one ticket and planning the rest of your life, then you're not one of the guys from new jersey who is wanting a third of a billion dollars at the drawing last night. someone, or a group, $338 million. the cash option, that's $211 million and some change. the winner's identity is still a mystery. 14 other tickets also winning a million bucks or more. by the way, the odds of winning the grand prize, about 176 million to one. i think we said yesterday you had a greater chance of becoming president of the united states than winning. let's go to weather right now and unseasonable weather is causing havoc across colorado.

over 200 flights are canceled and it's shut down 154 miles of interstate before heading into the central plains. so despite the fact that it's officially spring, winter form warnings, as you can see why, are posted across eight states, including in kansas. folks in wichita are also digging out. let's go to dylan. how is this affecting the rest of the country? >> it's going to move into the midwest, it's going to move into new york, new jersey tomorrow. i'm sure the powerball winners are i thissing, can't the weather just be nice? get away from the snow? that's what we're looking at. a late-season snowstorm that's brought snow to colorado and normally it warms up right after so it melts. it's 13 degrees in denver. so it is not going to melt away any time soon. the roads were destroyed in that whole area. we saw tons of pileups and it tracked along i-70.

so areas all across the plains were dealing with road troubles and tangled cars. it's brutal out there and it's not changing today. we're going to continue to see the snow come down. today it's isolated to parts of missouri and also into western illinois. that's where most of the heavy snow is today and today it moves eastward and severe storms in the southeastern side of this storm. especially across northern florida where they have tornado watches posted early this morning. winter storm watches and advisories through the midsection of the country and it will spread eastward as we go into tomorrow. here's the all important snowfall forecast. a foot of snow through illinois and indiana and then eventually maryland, too. it looks like new york city could walk away with one to three inches of snow. and it's not going to melt any time soon because it's going to stay pretty chilly around here. alex? >> let's hope this is the last gas. >> it has to, right? >> i know.

look at the calendar. dylan, thank you so much. here's a sight you don't often see. sin city going dark. businesses on the vegas strip switched off their neon saturday night as part of a global rolling blackout. they are turning their power down to mark the seventh annual earth hour. millions switched off their lights between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. to raise awareness of climate change. next, forced entry happening more and more by the police. plus, budget battle. while the republicans stick to their guns for fighting obama care. a medical doctor is joining us next. around the world that sell stolen identities? >> 30-year-old american man, excellent credit rating. >> announcer: lifelock monitors thousands of these sites 24 hours a day. and if we discover any of our members' data for sale, lifelock is there with the most comprehensive identity theft

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as we peruse the sunday

papers, "the standard examiner," why police are forcing their way into more and more homes. the police used forced entry to execute warrants some 70,000 times in 2011. back in 1980, sudden entries were conducted just 3,000 times. and "the story before the burn," wildfires fear it may be a bad one. six fires so far. firefighters are in training on how to battle blazes and they are getting word out to how to reduce the risk on their properties. and we couldn't overlook this one, the napa valley register, how elsie was rescued and is dealing with a mouse problem at the library. he has a facebook relationship with the cat on glee. >> now back to washington, both

and that's where the similarities end how much light is there between the senate democrat's budget and the house republicans? joining me is andy harris, members of the appropriations committee, also a medical doctor. thank you for joining me. >> my pleasure, alex. >> may i first get your take on the senate budget just passed a little more than 24 hours ago. >> well, the problem with the senate budget is that it just never balances and i think america realizes that we need to balance the federal budget. >> where is the compromise? is there any? >> we have to balance a budget and until the senate agrees to that, i'm not sure how there is a compromise. we think you need to balance a budget, they think you don't. >> let's look at the ryan plan in a little more detail. it's quite similar to what he

and romney proposed. how is this different? some are calling it just the same old plan. >> well, again, i'm not sure that's true. i think the majority of americans think that the budget does need to balance at some point. the federal debt is too high. although we can disagree on some details, i think overall americans can agree, we need a budget. >> here's one detail. the ryan budget is dependent on repealing obama care which is all about guaranteed not to happen. so how realistic is it, congressman, that a budget is put out there that can never actually be implemented. >> it's increasingly apparent. it's not affordable. the affordable care act is basically costing too much. premiums going up too fast and i think we should dial them back or delay implementation.

>> so do you agree that obama care is not going to be repealed? your jouft looking for an amendment to that? >> well, i have to tell you there's no question that implementation is not going to occur on time. in fact, one of the career folks over at hss, in front of one of the meetings in washington last week, i should say, said that he's hoping that it doesn't end up as a third world plan. the implementation is seriously problematic and don't pretend that it doesn't need to be addressed. >> you're actually a great person to talk about this. as i mentioned, you were also a medical doctor. i want to get your reaction to something that representative michele bachmann said about that on thursday. let's listen to this. >> let's repeal this failure before it kills women, kills children, kills senior citizens. let's not do that. let's love people.

let's care about people. let's repeal it now while we can. >> really? obama care is going to kill people? i mean, you are laughing. >> well, i have to tell you, what representative bachmann is talking about is something that came to light a few weeks ago and that is that there are going to be employers who used to insure an entire family and now because of the mandate they are going to choose to just insure the employee and in most cases that means that the spouse and children will no longer be insured. >> i know you're talking again in a couple of weeks. thank you very much. appreciate your time. >> good to be with you. >> thank you. coming up in today's office politics, chris hayes on why the majority of bills get shot down in the gun debates. [ female announcer ] switch to swiffer 360 dusters extender,

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it's time for today's list of number ones. the real estate tracking website zillow says the biggest increases occurred in phoenix. homes there on average are 23% more than a year ago. in san francisco, about 18.5% more and las vegas, up about 18%. now for the best jobs for 2013, a dentist has the best job. a median salary of about $140,000 and in high demand are just two of the reasons. registered nurses ranking second followed by pharmacist. all in health care. being a professional golfer would be nice and for tiger woods it's getting better. woods could return to the number one ranking if he wins the final round today at the arnold palmer

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[ construction sounds ] ♪ [ watch ticking ] [ engine revs ]

come in. ♪ got the coffee. that was fast. we're outta here. ♪ [ engine revs ] ♪ let's get to the head lines approaching the half hour and a shoot out in texas is the suspect in the shooting of the top prison official. musharraf returns to pakistan after four years of exile. taliban militants have threatened to kill him as he attempts to make a political comeback. british police are investigating the unexplained death of a russian tycoon found

dead at his home in london. he fled to britain in 2001 after having a fallout with russian president vladimir putin. he was granted political polit there. >> some democrats nervous about next year's midterm election, it's not quite what we thought. joining us is ed rendell and michael steele. good to see you both. >> hey. >> good morning. >> governor, four senators voting against this budget plan yesterday, those senators being baucus, begich, hagan and pryor. how scared are they. >> it's an epidemic on both sides of the aisle.

everybody is scared to talk common to the people they represent. >> michael, jennifer argues that "the washington post" that just as much as the gop has shifted to the right, it's coming back to bite them. do you think that is right or is it a shift of voters back home? >> no, i think there's a lot of truth to that. in fact, i appreciate the governor's very concise point that was made and i would agree with him, that you have right now in washington a lot of people who call themselves leaders but who in fact aren't. they are not prepared to take the steps that are necessary to move the country forward on a host of issues or to bring clarity on issues. and so you're going to see the scenario i think played out much more democrats than people have anticipated, as your leader says, because right now you have 12 democrats in the hot seat. where it's gay marriage or aest

a host of issues coming down the pike. a lot of the politics at the local level, we nationalize in our conversations but vote very locally. the reality is that the local pressure is coming to bear. >> you know what they say, all politics is local. this is panning out. you mentioned the issues as gun control, gay marriage, governor, except for max baucus. buzz feed spoke to them and mary landrieau of louisiana. is this a major blow to the white house's ability to get things passed? >> well, it makes it more difficult. there's no question about it. look, it's not easy for president obama. he's got these conservative democrats who, again, are at trade to talk reasonably to their constituents. let's take the issue, alex, of high-capacity magazines. >> right. >> a law on the books that would

limit them. that would save lives in tucson, in aurora. no one back home is going to vote against you if you're a conservative democrat for supporting that commonsense gun legislation. so don't be a woos. do what you know is right and go ahead and vote for it. on the republican side, the same thing is true. i have conservative republicans who say they are not for gun control even though their constituents are for it because they are afraid of the nra. man up, women up. if we don't do that, we are in deep, deep trouble. >> michael, speaking of the nra, didn't the nra fund and back 16 candidates the last go around, 13 of whom lost? why do politicians continue to be so scared about the nra coming up against them? >> well, it's not so much the nra in terms of their money. that's helpful to have it used

for them as opposed to against them. what is transitional is how this turns out in terms of the vote. how people perceive an issue. i think the governor is right here. it doesn't matter what michael bloomberg or the nra puts into a particular candidate's campaign. it's what the constituencies that they are beholden to at home and i would i this that if this would look at what the polls are showing, 90% on magazines, they would find good comfort. but this culture doesn't lend itself to that and they need to tap back into people in order for them, i guess as the governor says, to man up and woman up to cast the votes they need to cast. >> to both of you, i want to ask you about the ten nor of politi and how significantly different it is in 2008.

it was a much different place for the country. but weigh in on that, michael, and then you, too, governor, right afterwards. is that palbably different? >> well, the theme of politics has been red versus blue for the last 10 or 12 years. that's probably the most poisonous aspect of it, that people feel they have to cow tow to one side or the other. what you've seen is a citizens activism that i think is very impressive and very important and if citizens got behind, for example, an issue like simpson/bowles, it would dramatically change the way our politicians look at and respond to the economic crisis, versus what we've seen over the past couple of years in posturing. there's elements of red versus blue but what the citizens are moving towards is that commonsense consensus and

bringing that kind of pressure and we'll see how it plays out on issues like gun control, a 90% issue and the voters are here and elected officials are over there. >> so governor, is it activism? is it social media as well as that, something that has changed the sense of things? >> well, i think all those things contribute to it, alex, and i think we do, too. the 24/7 news cycle. it's no secret we like controversy and stir things up. in the end, everyone who gets elected to office should understand, there are some things worth losing for. if you don't believe that, then don't run for office in the first place. if you're not willing to risk your job for some core issues, something that's fundamentally or important to the american people, then why are you there in the first place? good gosh. >> yeah. i'm going to say amen to that and thank my two chief posturers. thank you. appreciate it. >> all right. see you, alex. coming up in just about an

hour, we're going to ex more the mid-east peace efforts with former senator george mitchell. and it's time now for our question of the day. here's what i asked you. how do you think the supreme court should vote on gay marriage? mark tweets, it won't be a vote for or against gay marriage. they will vote against discrimination based on sexual orientation. and tony wheeler left this facebook message, ruling against marriage equality is denying an eligible person for the right to marry based on the gender of their intended spouse. sounds like discrimination to me. thank you for your thoughtful replies. write me on twitter @alexwitt. in half an hour, joining me for discussions jonathan turley

and patricia millett. in today's office politics, i sit down with my colleagues chris hayes who just today hosted his show "up" for the last time. he jumps from working weekends to, working in primetime. first, i asked chris about the disconnect between capitol hill and the majority of americans on the issue of gun control. >> there continues to be a profound asymmetry in american politics on the issues of guns in which on one side of people who want to have an unfettered direct relationship with guns, those people care desperately and deeply about that issue. there are a lot of them and they really care. and on the other side of the issue, people who want to see gun safety measures, there are a lot of them but it's a very diffuse opinion. i think it's a classic example

of preference versus intensity. the intensity is on the side that does not want assault weapons ban. the majority of support is the side that wants assault weapons support. you poll someone and get larger majority of americans but are people going to go ballistic? are they going to primary people? >> i don't know. when you have at least 70% of the population saying we don't want assault weapons, i mean, where's the commonsense? has that been lost completely in capitol hill? >> on this issue, yes. on this issue, yes. and it has been absent forever. the other lesson, as someone said to me, a lesson why you don't have a majority leader from the swing state. because, you know, he's -- you know, he's looking at his own backyard a little bit on this issue. but, look, commonsense -- i mean, commonsense has been totally absent on the issues of guns in the united states congress for more than a decade and even in the wake of

something as obviously -- obviously horrific and universally viewed as such as newtown, that that doesn't change that calculation. >> let's talk quickly about this big move for you. and we're so excited, like you're totally ditching us out. >> actually, it's going to really hard to part with the weekends. i'm sure you have this conversation a lot with people, oh, it must be so bad that your schedule, because it's a weird schedule. but i don't know about you, i grew very acclimated to it and came to love it and i had a lot of -- my biggest concern about the move, frankly, there's a the lo of time in tlot of time that the beginning of the week with my daughter. the biggest thing is that mornings will be our time and we're sort of phasing that in where, you know, we get up, do breakfast, go for a walk. i'm not going to be there for

bed time. >> listen, being promoted to primetime and leading into rachel, i mean, she is our 800-pound gorilla. pressure or pleasure? >> both. i mean, the way i've been describing it to people is that it's like skiing a black diamond slope, which is that if you do it before you're ready, it will be destructive and humiliating and if you do it when you are ready, it can be thrilling and really enjoyable. i feel tremendous sense of duty and -- that there's this very precious thing that i've been handed, which is the kind of stewardship of this bit of air time and cultivating a relationship with our viewers and also doing good work, doing good journalism, producing a more informed populous. >> are we going to see suit and tie or what's going on? because i like you casual? >> i like me casual, too, and i think we're going to maintain

that. there was a phil griffin quote in which lloyd grove asked him if i was going to wear a tie and he said, i don't tell people what to wear and i think i'm going to stay tieless. >> congratulations to chris on the new gig. we're going to bring you the best of office politics next weekend. why amanda knox could be facing double jeopardy in italy. straight ahead. mallon brothers magic? watch this -- alakazam! ♪ [ male announcer ] staples has always made getting office supplies easy. ♪ another laptop? don't ask. disappear! abracadabra! alakazam! [ male announcer ] and now we're making it easier to get everything for your business. and for my greatest trick! enough! [ male announcer ] because whatever you need, we'll have it or find it, and get it to you fast. staples. that was easy.

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but what you taste is the fruit. there's a reason no one says "easy like monday morning." sundays are the warrior's day to unplug and recharge. what if this feeling could last all week? with centurylink as your trusted partner, it can. our visionary cloud infrastructure and global broadband network free you to focus on what matters. with custom communications solutions and dedicated support, your business can shine all week long. today's particular irrelevance with north korea, president reagan announced to the nation better known as a skeptical press would call it.

and incoming soviet missiles. >> during the past decade and a half, the soviets with new strategic nuclear weapons. >> it never materialized and was scaled down. and increasing threats and murder conviction overcome and our legal programs are far from over and let's go straight to london where duncan has the latest developments. this is interesting, duncan. good day to you. what have you got? >> alex, good afternoon. this is the latest legal twist for amanda knox. first the college student was

convicted of murder, then cleared on appeal but this is still not over. tomorrow, amanda knox will find out if she must once again sit in an italian courtroom. it's more than a year and a half since the 25-year-old was able to return home a free woman. >> i'm really overwhelmed right now. >> after four years in prison, she and boyfriend rafael have their convictions overturned. but now italy's highest court will decide if their case should be rejected. they want a whole new trial. >> the prosecutors, obviously, are upset with the acquittal and they are going to supreme court to have it reviewed to say that the appellate court got it wrong and that the guilty charge in the trial court was correct and that should stand. >> knox was convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering meredith kurcher.

prosecutors claim that it was an attack filled by drink and sexual jealousy. during their appeal, defense lawyers claim that the police bun geled the investigation, failing to properly handle key pieces of evidence. >> i don't think the verdict is going to be overturned only based on the fact that it was a 100-page report and a lot of the problems was with the dna and that is something that can't be reversed once you mess up in a dna case, obviously there's nothing a new trial can do. that evidence will remain the same. >> unlike the media circus that accompanied the first two trials, tomorrow's ruling will happen behind closed doors. both will be waiting anxiously to find out if their courtroom drama is finally over. since returning to seattle, amanda knox has kept a low profile writing a book about her

time in prison. her italian lawyer is reported assaying she is anxious about tomorrow's decision. alex, back to you. >> duncan, she will not be there for tomorrow's proceedings. thank you so much. 54 schools closed and 30,000 teachers impacted. why so many schools are being closed, next. [ female announcer ] are you really getting salon quality... or settling for wannabes? stop compromising! new vidal sassoon pro series. care and styling from the original salon genius, created to let you have it all at an affordable price. new vidal sassoon lets you say no to compromise and yes to very shiny... very silky... very sexy... very you. it's salon genius in a bottle! now in your store. new vidal sassoon pro series. salon genius. affordable for all.

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as republican party searches for ways to attract latino voters, former u.s. representative dick armey says, you can't call someone ugly and expect them to go to the prom with you. that's our quote of the week. that's a pretty good one. in chicago, mayor romney emanuel is speaking out for the first time since the city announced the most sweeping school closures nationwide. >> the anguish and pain that comes from not making the change, for making the change is less or minimal, in my view, or

pales compared to the anguish that comes by trapping children in schools that are not succeeding and trapping children in schools that will not give them the opportunity and all the doors that will open in their future. >> well, the city is facing a financial meltdown but the decision to shut 54 schools in a single year has certainly angered some parents. joining me from chicago, reuters's national correspondent, mary. >> thanks for having me. >> you've been covering this for 20 years or more and you've written extensively on this issue. the mayor makes the point that it's in the kids' best interest to shut down these nonperforming schools. why is the teacher's union so dead set against this? >> well, for one thing, what's happened in the last ten years is that 86 public schools have been shut down and in a the lo of those cases the kids have not

done better in the schools that they went to. the other thing that's been going on, the city has opened up a number of charter schools. there's 106 charter schools in the city. those schools are being taught by less experienced nonunion teachers. the teachers look at this as you're taking resources away from the regular public schools, giving them to the nonunion schools, and this is helping to drain kids from the schools and that's why some of these schools that they are closing are under utilized. there's a lot of anger and history here that came before this decision. >> yeah. there's also -- for critics, though, they are pointing to the fact that this plan affecting minority neighborhoods disproportionately. let's listen to this. >> this is cowardly and it's the ultimate bullying job.

mayor rahm should be ashamed of himself. >> how did so many schools and areas occupied by minorities end up on the chopping block? >> the city has lost a lot of population in the last ten years and the population has been lost in the minority neighborhoods and so there are -- it's true that a lot of schools are what they are calling underutilized. the problem is that when the kids have to go to a different school, sometimes they have to travel farther to school and the parents are worried that they are going to be out in the streets longer and they are going to have to cross gang boundaries. >> i was going to bring up the gangs because a lot of schools are in neighborhoods that are horribly affected by gangs and gang violence. >> right. >> there is talk about -- kids are not going to be sent to school further than one mile from the current school that they are attending and if they go greater than .08 of a mile, they will be bussed.

is that appeasing parents at all? >> no. they want their kids as near to home as possible because they don't want the kids to have to cross any gang lines. they don't want them to be on the streets any longer than they have to. one thing that the public schools did do when they were talking about this is they decided not to include high schools on the list because it had been problematic with high schools before. but they are -- little kids are still affected by this. >> sure. let's look at the money here because the district is facing a billion dollar shortfall. the closures could net $560 million and the city will have to bridge those transition costs. what are the incentives tied to closures and does the teacher union propose an alternative solution? >> one of the things that the teacher union has proposed is putting a moratorium on school closing so the effects of them can be better studied, so they can look at ways to do this that is less disruptive.

they think that this decision is being made too quickly. >> okay. from chicago, mary, thank you very much. i'm sure we're going to be talking about this for a while. appreciate your time. still ahead, the people in fear of losing all their money and the vote that could possibly make that happen. [ male announcer ] when it comes to the financial obstacles military families face, we understand. our financial advice is geared specifically to current and former military members and their families. life brings obstacles. usaa brings retirement advice. it's delicious. so now we've turned her toffee into a business. my goal was to take an idea and make it happen. i'm janet long and i formed my toffee company through legalzoom.

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for current and former military members and their families. get advice from the people who share your values. for our free usaa retirement guide, call 877-242-usaa. up negligenxt, courting mar. the supreme court's first ever cases on gay marriage. taking aim, mike bloomberg unleashes a big dollar ad campaign against guns. who's the intended target. say it ain't snow. and up on a roof, a driveway goes really wrong. hello. i'm alex witt. it's 1:00 in the east and 10:00 out west. new today, mayor bloomberg and other mayors are supporting new

gun control measures. this is just in time for a slew of new tv ads. >> $12 million on running ads around the country, explaining to the public what the issues are and urging them to call their senators if they believe that we should have gun checks that stop criminals and people with mental illnesses from getting guns, they should call their senators. >> the white house passed its first budget in four years early saturday morning, like 5:00 a.m. early. the white house is praising the move. jay carney says president obama will work with both sides in hopes of a deal. joining me now, christina bellatoni and adam sorenson. welcome to you both. >> thank you. >> adam, we go to you first. the reaction continues pouring

into the first budget passed in four years. how significant is it to pass this budget. can you put it in perspective? >> sure. i think it's significant. the fact that it's been four years is a test meant to how hard it is so get things done in washington. the senate and the house, the democrats and republicans are still very, very far apart on what needs to be done and while this moves us one inch closer, i don't think we're going to see anything big done on budgets for another two months. >> christina, you co-wrote an article saying, they have their plan and negotiators would hammer out a compromise. that's how it works in most statehouses. but with the midterm elections feeling closer by the day, that's not likely to be the process. adam was saying that's what is supposed to happen but what happens next and was this all

for show? >> well, it's an exercise in each party demonstrating their vision for how you should fund the government. we're still waiting on president obama to release his own budget which will have potentially a competing vision. and adam is exactly right, it's just a matter of inches going forward and the big dernifferen on whether you want to boost investments over the long term or whether it's about cutting spending, these are big questions that lawmakers are facing. i would get in a room with a handful of guys, all men, and they would try to come to table with a deal. that's not how it works in washington. >> should it be at least a starting point? >> well, i think that they usually come together when they actually really need to to prevent something disastrous from happening to the budget or the economy.

this is something that will come up again with the debt ceiling fight this summer. but if you look at what the senate just passed, this is as christina said, they want to raise taxes. >> guys, let's switch to gun control here. christina, there's mention of the push for the gun control measures. a new gun control law was signed into law described as tough but does not ban semiautomatic assault weapons. here's the governor today. >> i get the feeling right now around assault weapons is that it's hard to define what assault weapons is, whether the ten-year ban, the federal ban made a difference. >> so colorado can't pass a ban on semiautomatic assault weapons. do you take that as a sign it's not going to pass in any state? >> well, it's really hard to know. every state is different.

but there is a huge question here. lawmakers feel a lot of pressure from gun lobbyists, gun rights groups and this is why the effort is so interesting. he says he's going to spend $12 million to really look at senators that might be persuadable, particularly those with strong gun rights cultures in their states and even vice president joe biden was in new york at an event over the weekend and he said, we stand with mayor bloomberg. we want these lawmakers to know both sides of the aisle that they have support. they are not going to be alone out there facing gun lobbyists or gun rights groups spending money against them in their re-election bid but really the consensus is coming around universal background checks, far more than a renewed assault weapons ban. so it will get a vote. >> adam, in terms of a national level, do you think anything is going to come out of congress like we saw come out of colorado? >> sure. i think that background checks, there's a good chance that they will be able to make some sort of deal on that and it's what you saw in colorado.

as far as an assault weapons ban goes, you don't talk to anyone in washington, d.c., who's very optimistic about that happening. you saw harry reid drop out of the bill and added it back into the amendment. >> alex sorenson, christina, thank you both. good to see you both. >> thank you. secretary of state john kerry made an unexpected stop in baghdad and asked al maliki to stop using. >> senator george mitchell has served as an enjoy voy to the me east. it's half past the hour. here at home, we know someone won more than $330 million in the powerball drawing yesterday. we just don't know who. le so far the lucky winner is keeping their identity secret. the ticket was bought in new

jersey. powerballs played across 42 states, d.c. and the u.s. virgin islands. let's go now to weather and talk about an unseasonable mess. snowstorm moving across the country, causing travel havoc like this in the rockies and burying some areas in a foot of snow. live in st. louis, missouri, with more on the storm, i'm sorry to make you stand out there in this live shot. this is terrible at the end of march. >> it is, alex. you know, i think a lot of people would agree with you, they've put away their shovels and winter jackets and they don't expect this late in the season and this is exactly what is happening here in st. louis. it's just not here. this is a widespread system. look at this. kansas, illinois, iowa, this is hitting a big part of the midwest and it's not a strong storm. it started last night and continued with sleet today and it's turned into wet, heavy

snow. as the wind is picking up, it's causing a lot of problems for people trying to get out on these roads. we are here in st. louis along 4065, one of the big interstates going through the city and the missouri d.o.t. treated these roads hoping to head off some of these accidents. we are seeing people go off the road and into the ditches and hitting medians and barriers and we're seeing very slow-moving traffic as the road conditions get worse. air travel is also a problem. southwest is the largest airline flying out and it's canceled a dozen flights. we expect that to continue because visibility is not getting a lot better and this storm, alex, is not wrapping up any time soon. this will continue while into tomorrow. going to be a mess for a while in the midwest. >> unfortunately, it's a get away weekend for many. they say call your airlines but i say look outside. janelle, thank you very much.

this sunday, tens and thousands of catholics gathered to celebrate the first sunday mass for pope francis. good evening on this palm sunday. how was the pope received and what was the big message to the crowds? >> well, once again it was a full house in st. peter's square as a matter of fact, 350,000 people from all over the world gathered to wave the olive and palm branches, of jesus into jerusalem. now, pope francis, once again, as we got used to it now, it was very spontaneous and he told the story of the calf breaking away from the transcript and he told the story about his grandmother who used to tell him that burials do not have pockets and that's another original way of

saying, you can't take it with you. then he also took the usual round of the square on top of that white jeep open roof and once again wore it. the security chased after him after he got off that jeep breaking with the vatican traditions because he wants to be with the people. he wants to shake hands with them. one important thing that he talked about is in rio day gentleman near row, that's going to be in july attended by millions of pilgrims. alex? >> it would seem that people there love the conversation, that they seem to be able to have a conversation with the pope. it seems like he love it is just as much. >> reporter: well, indeed. i mean, today i spoke to a group of ar genergentinan students.

they said, are you surprised it's so warm? no. we are basically italians. obviously there is that big immigrant and big population of immigrants from italy and argentina. it's for him and the italians as well. >> to our italian there at the vatican, thank you, claudio. what are the arguments that could sway the justices, next. h. i honestly loved smoking, and i honestly didn't think i would ever quit. [ male announcer ] along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. it reduces the urge to smoke. it put me at ease that you could smoke on the first week. [ male announcer ] some people had changes in behavior, thinking or mood, hostility, agitation, depressed mood and suicidal thoughts or actions while taking or after stopping chantix. if you notice any of these stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems, which could get worse while taking chantix.

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beginning tuesday, the supreme court will hear arguments on landmark marriage cases. california's proposition 8 and the defense of marriage act or doma. the lawyer against prop 8 was on

this morning's "meet the press". >> we're not asking for a new constitutional right. the constitutional right to marriage is well established. the supreme court has ruled that you can't take away the right to marry even from imprisoned felons. this is a basic civil rights issue and i don't think it's the issue that divides the court. >> joining me now, patricia and head of the supreme court practice. jonathan turley. hello to both of you. welcome. >> hi, alex. >> patricia, i'll begin with you as -- well, let's talk about in terms of prop 8, what we heard just there, correct, i mean, the right to mary already, has it been well-established? >> well, the right to marry is but what the court hasn't grappled with is what is the definition of marriage and that, as we know, is the issue hotly contested in this case and what they will be confronting and in particular what is the role of the courts in that, the role of the states, the role of the

federal constitution. so there's much for them to grapple with still. >> jonathan, breakdown for the viewers, if you will, the key issues here for each case. name one key issue for each of them. >> well, first of all, on the threshold level, one is doma, the statute of the defense of marriage act that has formed a discrimination against those who have same-sex marriages and then you've got the proposition 8 question which is a decision among the california voters to essentially rescind marriage status that was once granted so that people could of the same sex marry and those present slightly different issues. what people need to keep in mind is to get to the historic ruling that many of us have discussed and some of us truly desire, the court has to buy a series of

exits on this highway that they can easily avoid that type of ruling. there are very significant problems of standing in both cases. and it gives an out for justices, quite frankly. they could easily decide that there isn't standing in this case, either one. i have to say, you know, i've been covering the supreme court a long time, i've been teaching this a long time. i haven't seen cases like this, where the standing issues were so pronounced. so you could have this weird situation where this is viewed by some justices as a matter of procedure, as opposed to constitutional law. >> okay. patricia, though, in another interview david bois thinks the health care ruling, it's not going to vote by their traditional ideological lines, he think it's going to go 6-3, 7-2. he does not think it's going to be a 5-4 decision.

you know this court so well. do you think that he's out of line? or do you think he may be on to something? >> well, i think -- i don't think the court is going to look at this as a b achinary decisio. depending on whether they breakdown on these procedural jurisdictional cases, both equal protection arguments but states rights arguments about the state's role in defining marriage by congress through doma overrode so some of the justices might be more to the cross-currents in these cases. i think it's wrong for anyone to think that it's a binary up or down or we can predict how they are going to do it. they are going to have a lot of conversations among themselves. so far we've just seen the briefings and we won't see the arguments but half of the internal process, it could come.

>> jonathan, you think you could have the justice's ruling in favor of one and not the other? >> absolutely. both of these cases were brought by parties that are not the traditional parties. there are significant questions as to whether the court will agree that they have sufficient standing oh are injury, frankly skin in the game, to put it colloquially. the one that would be particularly interesting if they deny on standing is proposition 8 because if none of -- if this party doesn't have standing to bring the case, then presumably the lower court of appeals decision also lacks standing and that would leave the district court opinion. and so it would create a muddle as to what ultimately happened in the case. >> you know, final thought. even though the sentiments of the country seem to have evolved

significantly in the last ten years or so, david bois writes this, that most of his fears of the nine sitting justices of my age or older have grown up in extreme hostility to homosexuals. judges are supposed to put that aside and do our very best as judges do but it's not an easy task. how much do you think that may weigh into the way the justices ultimately vote? >> i think -- i think they will put that aside and i think they read newspapers like the rest of us in the field where the nation is going and most importantly they all have law clerks who assist them in these cases and those law clerks are younger than i am and generationally there is a very sharp turn on this issue. i do think they are not going to decide this based on personal views. they've got very difficult, complicated, constitutional questions and that's what they are going to wrestle with.

>> we're very glad that both of you weighed in on this. many thanks. >> thank you. the high court may still be undecided on the defense of marriage act but a gallup poll found that 54% are in benefit of giving spouses of employees of same-sex marriages. people leave money in a bank because it's safe, right? well, cyprus is destroying that. what are the implications? next. [ phoebe ] stress sweat. it can happen any time, to anyone!

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financial crisis. this follows a controversial proposal that would have seized 10% of people's bank accounts. also at stake, the country's position of the eurozone. michelle caruso cabrera is joining us. they have a day to raise money for the bailout package. is there a likelihood that they are going to be able to avoid bankruptcy? >> look, in theory they should be able to. the president in this country is talking to them explainsiing to them what he wants to do. if he doesn't, the outcome could be catastrophic. it would be devastating to the people, alex. >> well, to the people, of course, they have all of this hanging over their heads. how are people reacting or preparing in anticipation of this potential crisis.

i've heard local banks are limiting it to 100 euros a day but people want to get their money. >> reporter: yes. it's been frightening to watch as we drive around over the last couple of days. long lines at atms. people have been taking out the maximum they can every single day which has gotten smaller and smaller by the end of today and, in fact, a lot of those banks don't have any lines anymore because the atms just don't have money anymore. people have been stocking up at supermarkets as well fearing shortages because with the banks closed for an entire week, businesses can't pay their suppliers so they can't restock. >> are there potential effects on the u.s. and the rest of the international community if the banking community in cyprus collapses? >> reporter: the way the markets have been acting, they don't

believe that would be that big of an issue. the cyprus economy is a very, very tiny percentage of the european economy. it's actually one of the reasons why this bailout negotiation has been so tough because the europeans are tired of bailouts. this would be the fifth one. so they've been really, really tough on cyprus because it's so small and potentially inconsequential. they would be embarrassed if the country left the eurozone and abandoned the currency of the euro but not devastating for europe. >> can i ask you about the controversial measure. it's 25% tax on people who have more than 100,000 euros in their accounts. they just take that money. is it expected to go through? >> well, here's the situation. that's money above the insurance level. just like the united states, all of the european countries have

an insurance level at the banks. they say, you put your money in the bank and we the government will protect it up to a certain level. in the united states, it's $250,000. in europe it's 100,000 euros. any money above that is not protected in a weak bank no matter what. anybody with 100,000 euros is going to suffer. that's how it works when you're trying to fix a very sick bank, even if it were in the united states. >> so with the banks closed now, expected to reopen on tuesday, what happens if the banks collapse? >> reporter: okay. so if they don't come up with a deal, it's possible that the banks do not reopen on tuesday. they have to decide what they are going to do in terms of a bankruptcy. it gets very complicated. they could decide that they are going to print their own money to refill the capital in those

own banks. a banks has to have a very strong foundation. think of it with piles of money. the reason you need all of that money and capital, it's a cushion so when they make loans, if some of those loans go bad, they eat away into that cushion. if the europeans won't give them euros to create that cushion, they could print their own money to create that cushion. >> quite a situation. michelle caruso-cabrera, thank you very much. i appreciate it. now to ups and downs. saturday mail. the budget that congress passed to keep the budget afloat, it's a measure that mandates that the post office delivers on saturday. the post office asked congress to eliminate that provision to save $2 billion a year. younger americans are going into debt. aging baby boomers are taking on more debt as a result of medical bills and mortgages. everybody's favorite video website has reached a major

milestone. youtube has one billion active users. >> put your hands up! >> ryan gosling goes from a dare devil to a bank robber. gosling is so busy shooting flicks he says he's just plain tired of it and needs a break from acting and says he needs a break from himself as much as he thinks the audience does. now to an honor of a sea creature that treats his arthritis by dunking baskets. >> and punxsutawney phil, misrepresentation of spring,

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welcome back to wades with alex witt. authorities are calling the man who was killed in a the shootout a suspect in the killing of a top prison official in colorado. and a marine killed himself in a murder-suicide. a sky diving student and his teacher are dead after a group with others. the skydiving company says that they were wearing parachutes that should automatically open. and a legendary bodybuilder is dead. joe weider was 93.

british police are investigating the unexplained death of a russian tycoon found dead at his home in london. he fled to britain in 2001 after having a fallout with vladimir putin. right now, secretary of state john kerry is back in jordan after making a surprise trip to baghdad. this was the first trip to iraq for america's top diplomat since hoil clinton visited in 2009. this comes on the heels of president obama's trip that ended last night. joining me right now, george mitchell. thank you so much. i'm glad you're hear to talk with us about a few things. i want to get to the main goals for secretary kerry's trip to get iraq to carry weapons through syria in the air space. did that work? and in terms of leverage, how much does the u.s. still have with iraq to try to accomplish

that? >> well, we won't know the results, of course, until we see what happens following the visit but that's a very important part of trying to deal with the tremendous internal upheaval of conflict in syria. much of the arms and money and some personnel are coming from outside from iran on -- and hezbollah on one side and from saudi arabia, qatar and other states on the other. if there's any hope of diffusing the conflict, one way is going to have to deal with the issues of iranian support. iran is deeply concerned because syria is the major foothold in the arab world. there's a long standing syria through the decline or democrat myself of the assad regime, which i think is inevitable, will be a serious blow to iran. >> so if you have washington,

sir, on one side of the scale and tehran on the other, who does baghdad more closely align with? >> well, our hope is, of course, that it will be a truly democratic regime which will be primarily loyal to the interests of the people in iraq and that their views will be consistent with others in supporting and strengthening democratic institutions. but as with many of the other countries in the middle east, there are a whole series of conflicting interests there and it will play out over a long period of time. but our interest is in democratic institutions, democratic societies who will serve their people and not be so much interested in the kinds of conflicts that have raged for so long in that region. >> you mentioned your hopes are for the inevitable assad regime there in syria. but today one of the national coalition, the head of that resigned. he was the key u.s. ally among

the rebels. how big of a blow is that to american influence in this war? >> well, one of the major problems in prolonging the conflict has been the lack of unity and the continuing disagreements and lack of a single authority among the opponents of the assad regime that has enabled the regime to use the firepower to remain in office into what is now in the third year of this conflict. the united states and other western countries are doing our best, i believe the president has been active in this, through secretary of state and others, in trying to get a central and a well-organized and a regime that will rule through democratic institutions after the fall of assad. here's a very important point to keep in mind. history is clear and filled with examples of very bad governments that have been overthrown by

revolutions and then been replaced by worst governments. russia, of course, is the best example of that. but there are many such examples. so i think the concern of the president and his administration is not just to see that assad's regime ends but also to see that there is not a truly violent and horrific civil conflict and a continuing disarray after he leaves office with more death, more destruction, and the absence of democratic institutions. not an easy task. >> no, not at all. senator, let's talk about the buzz that's out there regarding president obama's trip. it was a glowing success in israel but it was for the palestinians. how do you read it? >> well, of course, the objectives and expectations were limited and i think the white house wisely did that because there was no prospect for an immediate breakthrough. but i think the president did a good job at reaching several target audiences.

first and foremost, the people of israel whose support will be necessary for any government that takes actions that are needed to bring the conflict to an end. second to the palestinian leadership and to their people in making clear that the united states, while fully committed to israel's security, is also fully committed to the creation of an independent and viable palestinian state in the belief that that is good for israel's security and good for the people of palestine. and then thirdly, i think the president wanted to send a broader message to the region, and particularly to our adversaries, that the united states remains fully committed to the region. i think he you can seeded in all of them in getting a turkey-israeli reconciliation was icing on the cake. at the same time, the palestinians are divided. they are in conflict. the administration so far has not been willing to get into

negotiations without certain circumstances. i think the president went a long way to hash out the difficulties with israel and coming up with an agreement that both can live with. once again, easy to say, very, very hard to do. >> yes, senator. there are those that suggested a very small window of time to get a peace deal accomplished. are the current leaders the right ones for a deal? can you see an agreement between netanyahu and mahmoud abbas? >> they decide who the right leaders are. it's not up to israel to tell the people who they must elect and they have to deal with the leaders that are there, chosen in democratic elections. now, i think personally, despite the tremendous difficulty and i spent 2 1/2 and very frustrating

years there that it is so much in the interest of the people of israel and the palestinians to reconcile their conflict because painful as a peace agreement will be, it will be far more peaceful if they don't reach a peace agreement. that's especially true forth for the israeli. and further steps to establish normal relations with the countries in the region. so i think that will come clear hopefully to both sides at about the same time. once again, timing is significant. >> true. and i think those are se thank you. if ashley judd wants to run for office, she may have some competition. ♪ [ male announcer ] we all have something neatly tucked away

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time for the big three. let's bring in my panel. msnbc contributor, robert traynham and former senior adviser to hillary clinton, doug hattaway. good to have you all here. >> thank you. >> let's get right to you, robert. some republicans are publicly supporting same-sex marriage, including ohio senator rob portman, of course, many remain opposed. 1558 mrs. support compared to only 36% back in 2006. david brooks here on "meet the press," let's listen. >> the trend is pretty amazing. we've had 5,000 years of western civilization. has there ever been a society that's given complete equality to gays and lesbians? no. this is a big, historic moment and the movement is overwhelming

and gradual and almost irreversible. >> so what kind of struggles to opponents of it on the wrong side of history here? >> yes, absolutely. alex, this is the civil rights movement, if you will middle parts of the 19th century for african-americans and what's wrong with gay and lesbian americans? what's wrong with gay and lesbians able to enter into a relationship so they are able to pass along their material and so forth on to other generations that share that? there's nothing wrong with that and this is certainly not a threat to traditional marriage. so, yes, the republicans out there and also some democrats are on the wrong side of history here. there's no question, it's a tidal wave that will happen sooner rather than later. >> the supreme court will not issue a ruling until december

but what do you think are the potential implications? >> they are going to put this high on the public agenda. that's going to galvanize people on both sides of the issues and i think the upside goes to the politicians who support the freedom to marry. if you look at the electorate, voters under 40 are going to be nearly half of the electorate in the next national election, 80% support the freedom to marry. the political dynamics are changing quickly. people are going to start voting on this issue, particularly young voters. so which ever way it goes, if the supreme court voted against it, for instance. it's a very interesting dynamic we're going to see. >> as we look back to the 2012 election, that was all about the economy. how do you think this issue of same-sex marriage and supreme court's decision expected later in the summer is going to play in the 2016 general election? >> well, it depends, first of

all, how the court is going to rule on these two cases, the defense of marriage act and proposition 8, it depends on how they rule. it can either galvanize supporters or go against it. the economy is so slow to come back right now. it's hard to imagine that voters are really going to care about this issue as deeply as they did, for example, in 2004, when they are worried about paying for things like their mortgage 689 i think 2016 will be much more fascinating into how the public views this issue. if you look at the eight years from 2008 to 2016, how much the democratic party and even to a lessor degree the republican party has changed on the issue, you had three of the top candidates support civil unions, three of the top democratic unions. 2008 have completely come out for gay marriage. it's going to be interesting. i wouldn't be surprised if you saw top candidates come out and make a states rights argument,

those leaning towards supporting gay marriage, that's the argument they would make in 2016. >> let's move on to the next topic. kentucky democrats alis alison a lot of opportunities to pick up seats in the senate in the 2014. this represents one of their best chances and a long shot. federal candidates have not done well in kentucky. the last federal candidate i believe to win was actually bill clinton himself. he feel as special kinship towards the state. is close with alison's family. one of the reasons he's pushing her. one thing democrats cannot afford in kentucky, any chance of knocking off mitch mcconnell and his war chest. that's a primary. >> what kind of role might president clinton play given his friendship with ms. grimes'

father and ashley judd presenting a pretty high-profile person to return? >> certainly. if bill and hillary get behind her, she'll have access to traditional democratic donors across the country who will see their backing of her showing she's the viable candidate to take on the republican leader. that would be a real challenge to ashley judd who's obviously has to get her money from hollywood. clinton has asked to recruit viable candidates for office. that's what's going on here. >> robert, his reaction to this? >> bring it on. okay. mitch mcconnell is very, very -- not popular in kentucky overwhelmingly. remember, it's kentucky. it's an off-year election and remember that the party that controls the white house historically loses seats in off-year elections. i think the odds for mitch mcconnell are very, very good, and quite frankly, i think they'll want to run against ashley judd. a conservative against

hollywood. from a conservative perspective, a very good thing to run against. >> sit tight. up next, your must reads from the big three. s trade and invest their own way. with scottrade's smart text, i can quickly understand my charts, and spend more time trading. their quick trade bar lets my account follow me online so i can react in real-time. plus, my local scottrade office is there to help. because they know i don't trade like everybody. i trade like me. i'm with scottrade. (announcer) scottrade. voted "best investment services company." i really like your new jetta! and you want to buy one like mine because it's so safe, right? yeah... yeah... i know what you've heard -- iihs top safety pick for $159 a month -- but, i wish it was more dangerous, like a monster truck or dune buggy! you can't have the same car as me! [ male announcer ] now everyone's going to want one. let's get a jetta. [ male announcer ] volkswagen springtoberfest is here and there's no better time to get a jetta. that's the power of german engineering.

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now let's get back to the big three for this week's must read. sure, we start first here. >> a story on the website by stephen dennis detailing a testy exchange tweend two senators around 4:00 a.m. during the votorama that happened friday night into saturday morning. i love the story. shows what was going on during the votes after votes after votes on that side of capitol hill. some of these votes are really basically to push each other into political corners. i also love it because it reinforces one of my favorite sayings in life. nothing good happens after 2:00 a.m. >> you and my mother! that's good. all right. thank you. robert, what's your must read? >> a heartbreaking story in today's netanyahu abo-- "new yo

times." the ironic pe iic piece, they c afford a house on apartment the problem is they don't qualify for credit. literally moving from motel to motel to motel. really, really sad. >> extraordinary. that's disturbing. yeah. i'll have to read that. doug, your must read? >> mine's in the "times as well. a story about the discussion legal circles ar concerns on the mind of some supreme court justices that a decision in favor of marriage quality would create some sort of backlash and they don't want to get ahead of the country. interesting. it's not about the substance of the issue but the politics of the issue. we talked about earlier. dynamics are changing. 80% think it it's inevitable anyway. the time is right for the justerses to do the right thing. >> we'll see. expect that decision, later in the summer. we'll hear the case argument, this week starting tuesday.

guy, thanks. appreciate it. that's a wrap, everyone. this sunday edition of "weekends with alex witt. sell operating palm sunday, pass jove and good friday, have a good day and a good week. [ male announcer ] when it comes to the financial obstacles military families face, we understand. our financial advice is geared specifically to current and former military members and their families. life brings obstacles. usaa brings retirement advice. plays a key role throughout our lives. one a day women's 50+ is a complete multivitamin designed for women's health concerns as we age. it has 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day 50+.